They spent the next few days getting acclimated to each other after learning more than they ever thought they would. They were closer than ever, Miwako not having to hold back any of her childhood stories and even let Kurama out to stretch his legs and roam around the house.
They never went into her mindscape to view the rest of her memories and she never asked if he wanted to until he asked. Eventually, he agreed to get help from the other teachers, however, he still limited it to Hound Dog, Present Mic, and Aizawa. He still wasn't all that comfortable enough to allow more, but it was something. Recovery Girl was also requested when the thought came to him that her medical history should be divulged so at least one doctor knew how to treat her correctly. Nezu was called to listen in on Miwako's story since he already knew of All Might. He invited them all to his home for more privacy.
They all arrived, not really knowing what to expect, but knew it was something important and that it would take quite a while as All Might asked them to clear their schedules for the day.
"So what are we here for?" Present Mic asked once they got settled. They all observed how nervous the two across from them were.
All Might was the first to speak, since he figured his reveal would take less time than hers and he couldn't stand the thought of going through her memories again agonizing over his own turn to confess.
The reception to his story didn't end well. "All Might…" Aizawa rubbed his face. The downfall of the number one hero never crosses anyones mind. Who would think that their strongest fighter was so close to his own end. The public outcry, the rise of criminal activity, the stress of raising the next generation was felt on each of the teacher's shoulders.
Aizawa, who was the best at compartmentalization out of the four that sat there, spoke for the group. "Alright, first things first, you need help finding a successor, we can do that. We need to work on slowly pulling you away from the spotlight, without leaving such a large gap. We'll think more on that later. Now let's continue" Exhaustion was already weighing on his shoulders. He really didn't want to continue, but he knew this was important. It was best to get everything over with.
"Can everyone hold hands please?" Miwako asked
"Excuse me?" Aizawa thought he heard wrong.
"You'll understand soon, please just do it."
Once everyone's hands were clasped, Miwako closed her eyes to concentrate and suddenly everything changed.
"What the fuck." Aizawa was so very tired.
Hound Dog was growling and barking from the sudden change, looking at the forest around them. Miwako luckily had the foresight to tell Kurama to stay out of sight for a little while she revealed everything a second time.
It took a lot longer to get through the portion All Might already knew since the group now had much more questions than him. The warning she gave for her first mission did little to prepare them for what they saw. Present Mic turned slightly green, Hound Dog for once was too upset to even make a sound and Aizawa had the most unreadable look on his face. The Recovery Girl reached out to try and comfort Miwako and held her hand. All Might looked away, not able to watch the gruesome scene the second time.
"Does anyone need a break? It'll only get worse from here." She gave the same offer that she did to All Might after bringing them back to the forest to get away from the nauseating stench of death and blood.
They all took a moment to breathe before deciding to continue. The next scene she showed was the preliminary rounds for the Chunin exams. They cried out in anger at how Neji treated Hinata.
"That's just how it was. Neji is from the branch family of the Hyuuga clan while Hinata is from the main branch. The seal on his forehead is placed on every member of the branch family. They were told it was to 'keep the Byakugan safe from Doujutsu thieves' but it was just a slave mark. The head of the main family was able to activate the mark whenever they pleased, placing the person in absolute agony or even killing them. Neji's father was sacrificed in place of his uncle who is the head of the family when he was young, starting his hatred for the main branch."
The scene changed again and they were outside the hot springs looking at a large white haired man peeping on the girls. They wanted to laugh at how the twins called him pervy sage, but they couldn't bring themselves to.
"That's my godfather. He was not only one of the Sannin -a name given to a team of the strongest Konoha ever produced besides the Hokages- but also the best spy Konoha had. He couldn't stay and take care of us, not like he really wanted to. We reminded him of his failure to protect his prized student." She explained.
They were all horrified when they saw the attempted destruction of Konoha. "What the fuck is that!" Present Mic yelled pointing at the snake like man fighting Jiji.
"That is Orochimaru, the second Sannin and Missing-nin. He deserted Konoha after being discovered for experimenting on the citizens, by Jiji, his own teacher."
They all winced at the uncontrolled anger Miwako displayed once her grandfather died. Their hearts broke again for her and they had a feeling it would continue to break. As they gazed upon the wreckage around them, they couldn't imagine living in this world. It was so full of bloodshed.
Miwako thought they needed a break from her harder memories before the war and so she showed them her most treasured memory.
They stood in front of the twins who were hugging two adults. They were stunned when they called them their parents and sat down to speak with them as a family for the first and last time in their lives.
"My parents placed their chakras inside our seals before they died so they could help us one day tame Kurama, but by this time, we had already become friends with him. So instead of wasting their time on conquering Kurama, we got to talk to them." She walked closer to the memories of her family. "My mom has the prettiest hair I've ever seen."
They respectfully stayed quiet as she rewatched her time with them. They didn't want to ruin this moment of reprieve from her grueling life.
Of all the memories that she shared, it was the last during the war that was the hardest for them all to get through. Never before had they seen such a wide range of destruction. She had only shown the aftermath of Pain's invasion and explained why there were no deaths, but the wreckage shown was neusating.
Death permeated the air, blood was coating the ground they all stood on. A monster stood before them, but there she stood tall in the front lines fighting alongside her companions. Never faltering in her movements. They all had to look away when the killing blow was landed, and finally they were back in the forest. Behind her stood Kurama in all his glory.
She could tell the group needed a break and made his introductions quick and asked if they had any questions for her before going back to reality. None spoke up, their minds completely fried at the onslaught of information.
When they got out, the sun had long since set once again. They took a moment to reorient themselves before Hound Dog pounced on her and almost snapped her spine in half with his hug. It prompted All Might to join in and slowly they all formed a group hug. Even the ever elusive Aizawa joined in.
They all pulled back and Hound Dog pushed his face closer to her before growling out one word. "Therapy." They all trickled out after leaving All Might and Miwako alone once more. They sat there in silence as All Might wrapped his arms around her again. "I'll make sure to give you the best life. We will go out and play in the park, we are going to go to the movies like a family, we are going to do everything you couldn't do with your own parents starting tomorrow."
She melted into the embrace. "I'd like that Dad."
"Dad… isn't this a little too much?" Miwako was looking at all the items All Might bought for her from the store. Days had passed since the stressful and yet relieving conference. There was new bedding with ramen bowls printed all over it, small potted plants that she could put in her window, new clothes, shoes and electronics.
He waves his hands, pulling out more items that were dropped off, "Nonsense! I told you that it will be different this time and you deserve all of this. If you're worried about the money, I said before that I had more than I knew what to do with, but now I see a productive use of it."
He held up a poster of her favorite movie and showed her. "I thought it would be nice for you to decorate your room instead of leaving it so bare. Make it your own."
There was one last box that he was careful with moving. He slowly opened the lid, but didn't show her what was in there just yet. "I hope you don't mind, but I also got some things made to remind you of your other family. I know how much not having anything of theirs hurt, and these items are only just a replica, but I hope it brings you some comfort at least."
He slid the box for her to examine the items herself. The second she looked in the box she saw a familiar dog mask. Slowly, she reached her hand in and picked it up with reverence. "Sensei's mask." She mumbled as she ran her thumb over the fine porcelain.
Carefully placing it down next to her, she pulled out the next item in the box. A large picture encased in a red frame. "How did you…?" She couldn't take her eyes off of the smiling faces of her mother, father, and brother. The first picture of them together she had ever seen in real life besides the genjutsu.
"I called around for the best artist I could find on such short notice and detailed the way they looked. I had it commissioned so you could always see them."
With the picture still in her hands, she took several quick steps toward All Might to wrap him in a hug. "Thanks Dad, this is the best gift ever." She pulled away and quickly wiped her cheek.
"No need to thank me Kiddo, I also got an email of the digital version so you can have it on your phone as well, but that's not all. Keep looking through the box."
She was getting more excited and didn't waste time grabbing the next time. There was a frog wallet, and more pictures she could hang around her room. Pictures of herself, Naruto, and Jiraiya sitting on top of Gamabunta, another one at night, team 7 sitting around a fire laughing and finally the largest of all the photos, one of the rookie 9 and team Gai all standing underneath the Hokage monument. Tsunade waving a bottle of sake around with Shizune fretting over her drunkenness.
"You got all of this from only seeing them a few times?" she stopped trying to wipe her tears away, letting them fall freely.
"They were your important people, of course I remembered."
She pulled the photo to her chest as she sank to the floor, letting out her sobs. She let out all of her regrets, loneliness, survivors guilt, and longing for them all. She always pushed it down as much as she could, knowing that she couldn't go back after spending the first 2 years she woke up trying. Now, she could finally grieve, could share her suffering, and let them go.
Once she gathered herself together, she asked All Might to help her set everything up in her room. With the plants by the window, the picture frames hanging on the walls and on the desks, the new bedding, it became hers. It wasn't barren, and didn't look like a guest room anymore.
He still couldn't spend the whole day with her, but she was alright letting him go, knowing it was his job. These were the happiest days of her life, she constantly went out to the night markets, the parks, and movie theaters with All Might in his smaller form just like he promised. Sometimes he had to be called out, but even a little time was worth it and memorable.
Aizawa and the other teachers would come for dinner as well. One large family got together that she never experienced in the past before. He surprisingly even learned how to braid her hair after seeing her struggle to do anything with it other than putting it in pigtails.
Before she knew it, time flew and it was now her 13th birthday. Like her 12th birthday, she welcomed having another party. All day, she spent the morning and afternoon with All Might as the others set up the house for her celebration. Streamers, balloons and fairy lights littered the room.
That night as she got ready for bed after everyone left and she put her presents away, a bright explosion lit the sky outside her window. She rushed towards it to see what it was and heard All Might rushing out of his room.
Turning to the news she listened to what was happening outside. A large train collision caused by a notorious group of villains that had been escaping custody for the past week was being aired. Suddenly, there he was, standing in the flames trying to save as many civilians as possible, but kept having to go after the villains before they caused too much damage.
The civilians could be heard screaming through the TV, even with how far the camera was. It was a massacre. Backdraft could be seen, trying to put out the fire, but the water caused the torrent of flames to burst higher, brighter, hotter.
As the screams raged on, and the only heroes able to help being Endeavor and All Might, Miwako shot out of her seat, not able to sit and watch. It was never her thing anyway, action was. Running to her room, it pained her to do so, but she grabbed the ANBU mask All Might commissioned for her and a black cloak.
She kept the image of what she wanted to look like in her head as she lifted her hands into the Ram sign. A puff of smoke later, she was taller, with long, smooth, red hair, whisker marks missing from her face.
She placed the mask on her face, securing it to make sure it didn't fall off and flashed to All Might's side. "All Might!" she called out.
His eyes widened at the familiar mask, but was confused by her visible features. He refrained from calling her name as best he could. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to help, you can't focus on saving all these people and fight at the same time. You've been in too many fights the past few days without enough rest, you're going to be at your limit soon. I'll keep saving the civilians, just put all your attention on the villains, I got your back." Before he could give a response, she lifted her hands again and suddenly, hundreds of her were standing all around them as she barked out orders to save as many as they could and all at once, they dispersed.
He turned back to the group he was fighting with before she came, with a proud smile on his face, lifting his fists once again and charged.
Her red hair shined in the burning flames as she ran across the scorching terrain. Person after person was lifted out of the rubble, and carried through the fire. As she was making more rounds a harsh voice called out to her. "YOU GIRL! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE?"
The flame hero: Endeavor was scowling at the vigilante in front of him. He knew she was no pro or hero in training or else he would have heard about her by now. He growled under his breath as the girl looked at him briefly and ignored him. He would have gone after her, but in this situation, time was of the essence and he couldn't leave the injured to chase vigilantes.
Once she got the noncombatants to safety she disappeared just as quickly as she came and went home. The news was still running as she slipped out of the shower she needed to take to get the soot and smell of burning chemicals out of her hair.
"Just who is this young lady and where did she come from?" The newscaster asked. A blurry picture shown behind her as the screen changed to a shaky video of her clones running to and from, pulling people to safety. The news woman turned to All Might after he gave the criminals over to the proper authorities and placed the microphone back to her mouth. "All Might, sources say the mysterious woman spoke to you briefly, can you tell us anything about her? Who is she?" He chuckled as she placed the microphone closer to him, insisting he answer.
"Well, I don't know who that young lady was. She seemed to appear out of thin air like a ghost and told me she was helping. No matter who that young lady is, she was a hero tonight saving so many civilians and I want to thank her for her bravery and heroic actions." He stepped back and waved to the crowd once more and took off. Miwako already had a cup of cool water waiting for him to sooth his dry throat from the heat when he got back.
After he drowned the whole cup, he exploded. "What did you think you were doing?!"
She shrugged as if she did nothing wrong. "Helping, isn't that what I should do?"
"You don't have a license!"
"So I need a license to help people now? Should I just let those people die? You know it was impossible for you and Endeavor to help all those people by yourselves since no one else was able to get inside once it got out of control."
That made him pause, his mouth opening and closing as his finger wavered in the air. "Does this mean you want to be a hero then?"
"I don't really know for sure yet, I still have a few years to decide. For now, I just want to make your life easier and that's what I'm going to do, whether you like it or not Dad."
All Might ran a weary hand down his face. He couldn't tell her not to, as he knew there was no way he could actually get caught with her skills, or majorly hurt, but like hell he would let her just go without any restrictions. "Alright, no fighting unless I give you explicit permission, strictly rescue only. And you have to accept some type of allowance from me if you are going to be doing work."
"But I don't need money."
"Doesn't matter, you are doing the work of pros, so you should get paid at least a little. Since you are a vigilante, it's not like the government could pay you, more like arrest you if they found out since it's illegal."
"Eh, it makes it more fun. Saving lives and running from the law, what a profession." She joked.
He shook his head at her as if due to disapproval but there was a tiny smile on his face as he lifted a hand to ruffle her hair. "Go to bed, it's already past midnight."
She nodded, but instead of going straight to bed, she spent all night long tweaking and testing different seal formulas for the best ones she could place on her forearms, to hold her mask, cloak and weapons just in case she needed them quickly.